Big Bend Day 3

Today was a really amazing day in Big Bend National Park. We got on the road early and made the drive down to the Rio Grande area. We wanted to do a nature hike in that area called Rio Grande Nature Trail. We saw a pair of cardinals, which was exciting. We spotted a few turtles and frogs, including a long-necked turtle. There was also a pretty yellow chat and some vultures. We even passed many "stores," or little places where people had crossed the river, set up shops, and left a pay station. You could choose an item, place money in the box, and take what you want.

This tunnel was fun to drive through.

The nature trail was fun. I love Randy and Seth peeping over the edge.

We spotted this roadrunner on the way to the trail.

Blurry pic of the frog we saw.

Horses and burros everywhere.

I'm sure Mark knows the name of this pretty yellow bird.

We walked past this millipede.

Gross!

We walked down to the river on the nature trail.

That is Mexico across the way!

We enjoyed the hikes in the morning when it was not blistering hot!

There are also great views on this trail.

We saw this turtle out of the water.

And this turtle under the water!

After we finished the nature trail, we headed down to the border crossing. There is a really easy crossing into a small town called Boquillas del Carmen. We had our passports and cash all ready, and there was no line to go through the checkpoint. Then we walked down to the rivers edge and met our boat. There were a few sandbags to walk out on, and then we stepped onboard. It costs $5 per person to cross, and we could easily have waded, but we were glad to pay and be towed across by the locals. 

As we climbed out of the boat, we were met by the mule wranglers. It cost another $15 to take a mule into Boquillas, and it was under a mile, but that's each way. So we saddled up and rode into town. Our guide did most of the driving, and we simply rode along, at the mercy of the mules.

The border crossing in the national park is small. 

We were excited to visit Mexico.

The Rio Grande was extra pretty this morning.

We got taken across the river in a small boat.

It took just a few minutes.

Then we got to ride burros to town.

Mom loved it!

When we arrived, we paid a small fee to be in Mexico, and then our guide walked us through the town, pointing out the school, the hospital, and the shops. Everything except for the restaurant was cash only, but we didn't buy anything because we don't carry too much cash. 

The restaurant, Jose Falcon, took Venmo, so we sat down and ordered. The boys wanted fajitas, which were really amazing. Mom got tamales, and Dad went for the chimichangas. All of the food was really good, so we decided to have dessert. We tried some empanadas, and also some sopapillas, which were even better than the food! Dax declared it a "Top 3 meal ever!" Most of all, we enjoyed the beautiful overlook of the Rio Grande and being together in the boys' 5th country.

The city welcome sign.

The stores had lots of beautiful items.

The view from the restaurant was awesome.

We were excited to eat food in Mexico.

Such a cute photo spot.

The fajitas were top notch.

Everything was amazing.

We had such a fun time.

Mark enjoyed the burro ride.

We named our burros as we rode, too.

Off we go again back to the river and the USA!

Back in America, we drove down along Rio Grande to another hike. This one entered a narrow canyon right along the river. It had a nice view of Boquillas del Carmen across the river, too. We walked right along the  edge of the Rio Grande, picking out birds, and passing the little "stores" set up by locals. Finally, the canyon narrowed down to just allow the river through, so we turned back. 

We loved walking along the Rio Grande.

The canyon really was beautiful.

We had one more stop to make in Big Bend at the hot spring. We slipped into our swimsuits and and made the hike along the quarter mile trail. We passed a few historical buildings, and then came alongside the river. There was a little pool that was right on the bank, and the water was 105 degrees. It was so nice to sit in the hot water, even though it was over 90 degrees outside. It was really cool to hop back and forth, spending equal time in the hot spring and the cool Rio Grande. The boys really enjoyed splashing in the shallow water in the river, but Mom stayed mostly in the warm water. 

This was one of the best things we did.

The warm water felt so good.

Dad loved the cold river water.

Mark and Mom stayed in the warm water.

Standing over in Mexico again.

We spent a lot of time at the spring.

Dax and Seth loved swimming in the river.

The hour drive back to the duplex seemed long, but we arrived back in time for Mom to cook up some pasta. We only hung out for a little while, though. We wanted to drive out and see a ghost town in Terlingua. 

This ghost town was really interesting because the modern town was built right around it. We actually had difficulty taking pictures of the tumbled down buildings without getting stores and houses in the photos! But there were about 30 buildings in various states of disrepair, and most were created by stacking flat rocks and putting wooden door frames between them. There were even a few cars from the 1930's that were all rusted out. 

The ghost town was fun.

We always love the rusted old cars.

Seth is taking this one for a spin.

It was a fun easy walk.

After the ghost town the boys wanted to go on a late animal drive. This made sense because the animals only come out at dusk and after dark. We drove into the park for about 20 minutes and then turned and came out. We didn't see much until just as we entered town. Two coyotes ran right into the headlights. The smaller one hurried into the bushes, but the larger one lingered for a few pictures. It was a great end to the day.

One quick, blurry pic of the coyote.

Big Bend Day 1/2

We wanted to hit a tough-to-get national park on Mark's last Spring Break. He suggested Big Bend National Park, so we found ourselves in west Texas. It was two flights, one to Austin, and one to Midland, and then a three hour drive to our duplex in Terilingua. That meant a lot of airport food and a lot of sitting down. Luckily, Mom ordered grocery pick up before we left, and the boys were happy to try Whataburger, a Texas original. 

Whataburger was yummy!

The best part of this day was the night drive into Terilingua. We were cruising along a little under the posted speed limit when we spotted several deer just off the road. That surprised us a bit, but we are used to them, so we slowed down. Just a little further on, we saw a porcupine waddling right along the white line. We quickly turned around and tried to get a few photos. Not five minutes after that, we came across a herd of javelina. It wasn't the last herd we saw, either, as we saw around 3 dozen along the side of the road in the cover of darkness. Soon rabbits appeared everywhere. We must have passed nearly 30 of those as we continued south toward the border. Finally, just as we were pulling into Terilingua, a coyote ran through the headlights. We were so excited! We had expected to see a few animals, notably birds, on this trip, but we saw five major mammals before we even got to our destination! And javelinas were a first for us. That made for a really great Day 1!

The Texas skies were pretty at sunset!

Some of the javelinas we saw.

On the second day, we ate a quick breakfast in the duplex and then drove into the park. We were surprised that it wasn't very busy, and the morning was nice and cool. We drove into the Panther Junction Visitor Center and got Seth started on the Junior Ranger. Then we drove back to the Chisos Basin. The Lost Mine Trail was the only full parking lot we saw, so we continued into the main Basin area. We did a short hike called the Window Loop, and a longer hike called Chisos Basin. Since this is the mountainous part of the park, we were hoping to see some animals, and we did.

First, we saw a tiny buck with just one antler eating along the side of the trail. Then we saw a few cool birds including a bright blue Mexican Jay, a black vulture, a canyon wren, and a canyon towhee. This trail was nice, and it was still fairly cool by the time we left late morning. 

This is our 38th national park.

Big Bend has lots of different terrains.

Seth did the Junior Ranger.

This canyon wren was singing. 

Curve-billed thrasher

Mom loved the purple cactus.

Window View Trail 

The deer didn't mind us.

This Mexican Jay was so blue and beautiful.

We were hot, but having fun!

Our next stop was at a small oasis called Dugout Wells. We'd heard it had a nature trail good for birding. The trail was great, though it was getting hotter, and the birds were good, too. We found a curve-billed thrasher and a white-winged dove. There were also plenty of mockingbirds. We enjoyed the signs around the nature trail, taking it slow and easy. Then at the end of the trail, Mom made lunch on the picnic tables right on the edge of the oasis. 

We found a lot of great plants.

And tons of lizards.

It was pushing into the mid-90's on the thermometer, but we had one more hike to try. This one was almost three miles, and it went around a large craggy mountain called Lone Mountain. It was flat and stayed right on the canyon floor, but we didn't love it. The boys were hot, the scenery was repetitive, and the trail seemed to stretch on far longer than it should have. Still, we made it without too much complaining.

Dax was a great hiker.

Big Bend was an interesting park.

It was April, but it was already so hot!

A tall yucca stalk!

We had a lot of fun!

There was one more thing to see in that area of the park, which was the new fossil exhibit. This has been updated over the past year, and it had some really cool areas. There was a massive crocodile and a lot of informative signs. Best of all, it was well-shaded, so we were able to cool down a bit.

This is a large dinosaur bone.

We love fossils.

We drove out of the park around 2 o'clock. We decided it was too hot to do much else and we'd pass the middle of the day back in the duplex, where we planned to eat dinner anyway. Then we'd come back into the park when it cooled down. On the way out, we saw a roadrunner, but we saw something else that surprised us. It looked like a bighorn sheep, but was more golden in color, and its horns curved differently. We weren't sure what it was. Later, we found out that it was an invasive species called an Aoudad. Also known as a Barbary Sheep, it was brought in from North Africa around the 1960's to be hunted on private game reserves. Of course, it spread to Big Bend and has been there ever since.

Such an interesting animal.

After tacos, gas, and a little napping, we went back into the park. We found a parking space at the busy hike to Lost Mine, and we did a mile up that steep trail right at dusk. This is supposed to be bear and cougar country, but we were not lucky this day. Still, the air had cooled nicely, and the mountains were really beautiful. We were glad to be hiking again.

This trail was just right in the evening.

We were grateful for a bench to rest.

It felt so good to be hiking as a family!

The views were beautiful.

This was a great hike.

For sunset we went back to the Window View Loop. There were about two dozen people there watching the sun sink slowly into the Window. We got some nice pictures, and the boys were really excited to spot a gray fox right on that tiny trail. They couldn't get a great picture of it because it was dusk, but they didn't mind. They were just happy and surprised to see yet another large mammal at Big Bend National Park.

Sunset was beautiful at the Window View.

We even got a family picture.

So gorgeous!